Ruin Me (#2 in the Brotherhood series)

Chapter 39

Rayna

My office door opens and in rushes Essy with Jace behind her.

Both of them look like they are up to no good.

They both sit on the chairs in front of my desk and smile.

I stare at them with confusion, "ummm...."

Jace flips his imaginary hair, "so tell me girly, what's this glow you have? Is it your new toner? Or is it your husband's...."

"JACE!" Essy warns, "that is not why we are here, and she always has a glow."

Jace laughs, "that's because your son is always in...."

"¡Te romperé el cuello! ¡Será mejor que cierres la boca!" Essy says as she gives him a mean glare. (Translation: I will break your neck! You better shut your mouth!)

He scoffs as if he's offended, "you're no fun mama."

She rolls her eyes and focuses back on me. "I want to have a family dinner at Zuma tomorrow evening. I've rented out the top floor and it would only be family. No one else would know."

Before I can answer Zade walks into my office with both Jo and Javen following behind. The cool and calm expression he entered the building with is long gone. Though his facial expression is blank I can feel his anger radiating off of him.

Essy eyes him and frowns.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed.

"My love what's wrong?" She asks as she makes her way towards him.

"I think we have a mole Ma."

"I thought we said that we would scan look at others before we start playing the blame game." She crosses her arms and gives him a hard look.

Esmeralda is family oriented, it's going to take actual proof for her to believe that someone close to us betrayed us. She loves all of us like we are all her biological children, if she were to find out she was betrayed, she'd be heartbroken.

Zade takes a deep breath and punches the bridge of his nose.

"I was just saying to Rayna, that I'd like to have a family only dinner tomorrow evening. It would be a secret from the rest of the mafia, only our personal guards would know where we are." Esmeralda says with a wide smile on her face. "I think dinner is a nice way to also cut some thorns off of our rose. What do you think?"

Both Zade and I furrow our eyebrows.

Zade stares at her for a long time before he finally responds, "whatever you say ma'am."

Her smile widens, "good, I'll get to planning and all of you except for Zade will be joining me."

"But Ma...." Jace starts to argue.

"You heard me, now out of Rayna's office. Let's give these two some space."

The men don't argue with her, one by one they leave the office.

I arise from my seat and walk over to Zade. His face is completely void of emotion, it almost reminds me of when I just met him.

His body is so tense I can begin to see a vein becoming visible in his neck.

I wrap my arms around his waist and immediately he melts into my frame. A warm feeling settles in the pit of my stomach at the knowledge that I have that power over him.

He leans his forehead against mine as he wraps his arms around my waist and sighs.

"You know— despite my thickness, your frame never ceases to make me feel small. I mean— look at your muscles and your height, and even your broad shoulders." I beam up at him.

A laugh escapes his mouth; it's something he mainly shares with me, but it's honestly a privilege. He has a beautiful smile as well as a sinful laugh. It never ceases to send electrical signals throughout my body.

"You say the most random things sometimes." He kisses my forehead, "still I love it. Despite the six hundred muscles in my body that help create such a beautiful image." He smirks, "the most important one only beats for you throughout the day and night."

I smile and kiss his soft pink lips.

The sweet moment comes to an end as he stares off into the distance and his happy, loving expression fades into a blank one.

"Where'd you stranger?" I say jokingly as I try to lighten his now dampened mood.

"I have an unsettling feeling of in my stomach and it started right after the meeting." His expression is unsettling. "My mother is not careless. She either knows who is betraying us, or this facade of a dinner is how she's going to find out. Either way I wish she'd tell me the truth about why she wants this dinner."

"Or.. maybe she just wants to have a nice family dinner Zade."

He unwraps his arms from around my waist and takes a step back from me. "Yea I doubt that."

I know what he's saying is true. Essy does seem to know something we don't, but I fear for what we'll find out.